An experimentally calibrated finite element study of maxillary trauma

A baseball injury to an instrumented human cadaver maxillae was simulated with a regulation (142 g) baseball traveling at 14 m s(-1). Measurements of strain were obtained with three-axis strain gauge rosettes located at the medial palate and both canine fossae. A three-dimensional finite element (FE) model of a dentate human maxilla was constructed from computed tomography scans of the skull of an adolescent. This three-dimensional mathematical model of the maxilla was deemed geometrically accurate by convergence testing when the model's degrees of freedom approximated 74 000. The simulated load case involved a transient dynamic impact to the medial maxilla with boundary conditions imposed at skeletal buttresses of the model. The model was calibrated through direct comparison with the displacements and principal strains gathered from experimental and epidemiological data. The comparison of experimental and calculated principal strains as a result of the simulated impacts revealed a 1.7-11.4% difference.